Quebec Premier François Legault has ordered an unbiased public inquiry into value overruns associated to the web platform of the province’s auto insurance coverage board, the Société de l’assurance car du Québec (SAAQ).
Often called SAAQclic, the web service platform was meant to modernize transactions and scale back the necessity for in-person visits for processes resembling licence renewals, car registrations, and appointment bookings. As a substitute, a number of web site flaws resulted in lengthy line-ups exterior SAAQ workplaces.
A report final month from Quebec’s auditor normal discovered:
- The prices of this system elevated by practically $500 million to greater than $1.1 billion, and these value overruns weren’t communicated to decision-makers.
- Program administration didn’t conduct the required checks previous to the implementation of the brand new platform in February 2023. As of Jan. 17, 2023, practically 20% of ultimate built-in checks had not been accomplished.
- The brand new system has not but generated the anticipated advantages. Vital issues stay, notably concerning automated financial institution withdrawals, which may cease working for no good purpose. As effectively, on-line companies provided on SAAQclic are utilized by fewer drivers than the previous on-line companies
- Program administration acknowledged growth was continuing as deliberate, however delays have been accumulating and high quality issues have been noticeable. Issues weren’t adequately communicated to SAAQ, together with that not all checks have been accomplished or anticipated to be accomplished earlier than the service launch date.
In a post on social media platform X Sunday, Legault mentioned he thought in regards to the SAAQ “fiasco” all weekend and understands the general public’s anger over the challenge.
“The SAAQclic challenge had unlucky penalties for hundreds of Quebecers,” Legault says in a translation of the French-language submit. “I keep in mind all these individuals who needed to wait in line for hours simply to get a brief licence, a registration.”
Legault says he ordered Quebec’s Secretary Basic to launch an unbiased public inquiry as quickly as potential. “How did we handle to launch such a poorly ready challenge?” he asks. “We should perceive why and the way it occurred in order to not repeat the identical errors sooner or later.”
SAAQ response
In a Feb. 20 press release following the discharge of the auditor normal’s report, SAAQ says it “considers it ought to have postponed the deployment” of the web platform. Amongst different adjustments, SAAQ says it has arrange a brand new strategy to planning and prioritizing IT work. A committee has additionally been established to establish and monitor dangers.
Quebec’s minister of cybersecurity and digital know-how, Éric Caire, resigned and was changed final week. Information reviews alleged Caire helped SAAQ disguise the rising value from the general public, in accordance with The Canadian Press. Caire denied the allegations, saying he had been saved in the dead of night about the price overruns.
Quebec’s authorities oversight physique, l’Autorité des marchés publics (AMP), says in a statement it’s reviewing SAAQ’s contractual processes associated to SAAQclic, in addition to these associated to new IT contracts on the auto insurance coverage board. It has the facility to hint all the chain of occasions associated to the awarding and integrity of SAAQ contracts, Legault provides.
If, after the general public and AMP investigations, the federal government “should act and sanction these accountable, we’ll accomplish that,” Legault says.
SAAQclic isn’t the primary insurance-related tech challenge in Canada that confronted value overruns. In 2019, Manitoba Public Insurance coverage (MPI) introduced a challenge to modernize its legacy system and enhance its supply techniques for private and business auto insurance coverage, bodily harm claims, and auto licensing and registration.
Initially, the price range for Undertaking Nova was $106 million. Spending then escalated to between $257 million and $290 million as of 2022, Canadian Underwriter reported in Could 2023. In its 2023 charge submitting, MPI requested extra employees associated to work on Undertaking Nova.
Following a authorities evaluate of the challenge, former MPI CEO Eric Habelin was let go and changed by an interim CEO. CBC reported in January 2025 the challenge was restarted after it was paused final 12 months “to get a greater understanding of how you can ship it.”
Function picture: Folks lineup at an SAAQ outlet in Laval, Monday, March 6, 2023. A number of flaws in an improve of the Quebec motorcar company’s web site has resulted in prolonged delays for licence renewals, registrations and car gross sales. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
